Changing Times

living in temperate regions reminds you so much more vividly that time waits for no man. the scenery changes everyday; the sun rises and sets at different hours evereyday. the surroundings evokes a sense of urgency to live in the present; wait and tomorrow will be a different setting altogether. it is unlike back home where the obvious sign of time flying past is the hype of christmas and new year celebrations.

changing times:
first it was the daffodils


then the cherry blossoms


then the tulips which burst from the earth overnight


but even the most colorful is fading, replaced by the energetic green of new leaves.

when autumn comes, the first impression of camb repeats itself...
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term has started, though lectures start only on thurs. people are already occupied with meetings with various people, and some are having collections.

i am overwhelmed with this sense of ambiguity again. the same feeling when lent term was about to begin last january. a mixture of fear of losing the contentment of the familiar and the dread of moving into the unknown sphere of work, demands, and- some times the worst of all, expectations.

it's such a paradox that when camb is bustling with students again, i am feeling this quiet sense of loneliness...

i know i am not into what lies ahead alone. the Lord has blessed me with good friends and He has promised His presence and strength. but sometimes i just want assurance. firm assurance.

The London Escapade

we were bored of staying in camb, and so decided to run away to london for a day. and to capitalise the wonderful weather of spring, we visited the london zoo =)

me at platform nine and three quarters, trying to ram into the magical world

there were a bunch of school children (they were oddly wearing gowns) at the platform when we were there. so, chien fen, jo and i had to 'fight' for picture opportunities at that famed platform with them...we call ourselves twenty-year-olds.. tsk tsk.

at the zoo:

this zoo is different from the other zoos i have visited, for it places a lot of emphasis on conservation efforts and on educating the public about biodiversity and wildlife, which i think is what a zoo should do instead of merely exhibiting a range of animals.

even the animal show was designed to showcase natural animal behaviour instead of having the animals do a multitude of circus-like tricks to impress to audience. the parrots didn't, and most likely couldn't, talk; the skunk was on stage to dig through soil and rummage a garbage bag, the lemur was there to jump from pole to pole and the owl was there to fly in the direction of food. the show presenter even explained why the owl was brought out in broad daylight when it is 'supposed' to be nocturnal. it turned out to be that not all owls are nocturnal, and the eagle owl brought out is one of them. i wonder why i have never considered this before even after watching owls swooping in and out actively to deliver mail in the day in harry potter films...hmm.

other interesting facts: the south american macaw parrot can live up to a hundred years, while the queen of the leaf eater ant can live up to fifteen years; the malayan tapir is most closely related to the horses; piranhas show minimal movement in water, unlike most other fishes that swim around; okapi is an african animal and alpaca is one that is found 4800m above sea level in the south american moutain ranges; and there are penguins that are native to south africa (i.e. not all are found in the icy land of antartica).

an educational trip indeed.

at night, we watched 'we'll rock you', my first ever musical in london. i just cannot say how impressed i was, and still am, at the live singing and live music.

whee =)

Lesson Learnt

i learnt an invaluable lesson, and i thank God that the price for it isn't too high.

i was told of incidents of people losing their belongings to pickpockets when travelling many many times. still, i was careless enough to carry a backpack behind my back in the crowded streets of london. worse, i put my valuables in the outermost compartment for my own convenience, overlooking the fact that what is convenient for me is also convenient for bandits.

so, i lost my phone. but fortunately, that was the only thing that was taken away-- i still have my wallet and camera. and more fortunately, replacing the phone isn't too much of a hassle; i get to retain the old number and all the calling credit.

so essentially i lost an old phone together with the contacts in the phone and some stored messages which i treasure very much. that phone had serviced me faithfully for close to three years. i wonder how is it now, since it wouldn't be worth much to the new occupier.

A New Vacation

i have watched this so so many times, but i am still amused by it.

it is a song that our cells lecturer ron laskey sang to us at the end of the last lecture of lent term. listen closely to the lyrics =)

(the "babbage" mentioned in the first line refers to the lecture theatre where we have cells lectures)



video is courtesy of jinyang =)

ahh... the excitement of having vacation when it was about to begin! three weeks of it has already gone by now. two more left.

The Veil of Gloom Lifted

in my earliest days in camb, i had wondered whether i would ever be fond of this place. it would be a place to which stress- loads of it, and the loneliness and discomfort of being in a foreign place would be associated, just like how spore was associated to these before.

even in the holidays, the 'glorious' 5 week easter holidays when the weather is just brilliant for any kind of outdoor actvity, the tension of the portending tripos is building up. people start to shut themselves in their rooms, libraries to brace themselves for the battle in easter term.

i feel obliged to do the same. but every morning as i walk out of basing, i see this:


the serenity of river cam, and trees bursting with cherry pink and blossom white.

and from the library, i noticed this tree which i had not noticed before:


a cherry blossom fluorishing with all the newly-gained energy of spring after dormancy in winter.

then, i took a step back and wondered in awe at the creation of the Creator, and wondered how i could be so parochial to be weighed down by the burden of work. isn't it said in ecclesiastes that work done under the sun is meaningless, a chasing after the wind? "What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.- Ecclesiastes 2:22-23".

i don't mean there is no need to work at all. instead, it is unnecessary to augment the importance of it to a level that causes undue distress. what is most important, God will provide, and we have peace in that.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life.Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. -Luke 12:25-27"

so is camb still a place of stress? yes- but it is not going to (and shouldn't) stop me from rejoicing every day.